| Genghis Khan II has four scenarios, Mongol Conquest (Mongolia, 1184), Genghis Khan (Greater Eurasia, 1206), Yuan Dynasty (Greater Eurasia, 1271), and World Conquest (Greater Eurasia, year not given). | p. 9, Scenarios | Manual |
| Only the first three scenarios can be chosen at setup; World Conquest begins if the player completes Mongol Conquest before winter 1214, keeping one advisor and eight generals if the player picks them. | p. 9, Scenariosp. 9, Selecting Followers for Scenario 4 | Manual |
| Scenario 1's goal is to conquer the tribes of Mongolia and the other scenarios' is to conquer Eurasia; the game ends if the ruler is defeated without a successor or becomes a rival's vassal. | p. 4, Your Goal | Manual |
| The manual's table of scenarios and rulers lists four nations for Scenario 1, led by Temujin, Jamuga, Togorul Khan, and Tayan Khan, and six for each of the other three, among them Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty and Richard I's Angevin Kingdom. | p. 61, Scenarios and Rulers table | Manual |
| One or two people can play, either controller works, and selecting COM instead runs a computer demonstration. | p. 8, Starting a New Gamep. 6p. 8, Demonstration Game | Manual |
| A year has four turns, one per season, and in the home base the ruler can keep giving orders as long as he has enough Body Points. | p. 14, The Main Display | Manual |
| Every command costs Body Points, a character's maximum differs from others', and a command needs enough Body Points to be carried out. | p. 15, Body Points | Manual |
| Body Points run from 0 to 15; illness and injury can lower them for a time, and they may decline with age. | p. 20, Body Points; Age | Manual |
| A character with higher political ability spends fewer Body Points on the same command, and the manual's listed costs are for ability E. | p. 15, Body Points | Manual |
| Characters are graded A to E in four abilities, political, war, leadership, and charm. | pp. 19–20, Character Data | Manual |
| War ability raises the damage a general deals, leadership raises a character's mobility per turn and speeds his units' recovery from confusion, and charm makes rebellion less likely and diplomacy likelier to succeed. | p. 19, War Abilityp. 20, Leadership; Charm | Manual |
| The player gives direct orders only in the home base; vassal states follow the policies and orders given to their governors, and an advisor can plan for the home base. | p. 5, Game Flow | Manual |
| A domestic policy has five fields, the allocation of labor, domestic policy, investment, military focus, and diplomatic policy. | pp. 23–24, Decree | Manual |
| Every season each state collects food, based on its conditions, the season, and the weather, collects specialty items, feeds its people by population, and pays its troops by the number of units; tax comes in each spring. | p. 40, Seasonal Phenomena | Manual |
| Gold, food, and population each range from 0 to 9999, and economy, land yield, and popular support from 0 to 200; a higher economy brings more gold each season and a higher land yield more food. | pp. 15–16, State Data | Manual |
| A ruler can have up to eight generals. | p. 12, General | Manual |
| An empress may bear the ruler princes and princesses if the two get along. | p. 12, Empress | Manual |
| The Family command lets the ruler spend time with the empress and children, which the manual calls important for grooming a successor. | p. 27, Family (7 Body Points) | Manual |
| A prince of at least 10 can be made a general and never betrays the ruler; a princess of at least 10 can marry a general, who as son-in-law stays faithful. | p. 27, Prince; Marriage | Manual |
| When the ruler dies of illness or in battle, one of his princes aged 10 or older succeeds him, and the game ends if none is eligible; a successor who governs a vassal state makes it the new home base and starts with no children. | p. 13, Successor | Manual |
| Old characters may die, sooner with low Body Points or serious illness, and the death of a ruler, governor, or advisor calls for a successor. | p. 40, Demise of Characters | Manual |
| The Market command trades food and specialty items with merchants, or hires mercenaries, only while merchants are in the state; the merchants are Uighur, Islamic, Chinese, and Venetian, and the Islamic and Venetian ones are absent from Scenario 1. | p. 30, Market | Manual |
| The Merchants information screen shows where merchants are on the map, with a house icon at each merchant's base. | p. 32, Merchants (0 Body Points) | Manual |
| Selling food or specialty items and buying food, arms, or specialty items both happen at prices that depend on the rate. | p. 30, Sell; Buy | Manual |
| The main display shows the rate beside the year and season. | p. 14, The Main Display, item 4 | Manual |
| Each specialty item's value is based on supply and demand and varies by area. | p. 18, Specialty Items | Manual |
| The game has 10 specialty items, fur, silk, gems, jewelry, medicine, woodwork, ceramics, glass, textiles, and spices, and each state can produce only certain ones. | p. 36, Regional Specialties | Manual |
| Gold rises with selling goods and spring taxes, and falls with war, drafting, alms, buying goods, and soldiers' pay. | p. 15, Gold | Manual |
| Mercenary costs vary by unit type, and new mercenary units arrive at 50 arms and 20 training, which feed into the army's overall levels. | p. 30, Mercenary (6 Body Points) | Manual |
| Diplomacy can demand that a state next to the home base surrender, demand tribute, or form an alliance of one to eight years, extendable to at most eight. | p. 29, Demand Surrenderp. 30, Alliance (8 Body Points) | Manual |
| A threatened state's answer to a demand for tribute depends on the states' relative size, their units, and the messenger's charm. | p. 30, Demand Tribute (9 Body Points) | Manual |
| Each state can hold at most 20 units, an army goes to war in up to five legions of up to four units each, and war costs 50 gold per unit; the food taken sets the supply, and units low on supply are more likely to lose soldiers. | p. 18, Unitsp. 43, Marching to War | Manual |
| The game has 16 unit types, a state's culture decides which it can recruit, and artillery exists only in China. | p. 33, Cultural Regionsp. 37, Regional Unit Types | Manual |
| In battle the attacker moves first and then the defender, each turn is one day, the battle ends after 30 days, and the commander's leadership sets how many commands he can give in a day. | p. 46, The Battle Display | Manual |
| Battle weather depends on the season and climate, and it can reduce mobility and supply and cause desertions. | p. 46, The Battle Display | Manual |
| Legions that meet fight on a combat display, where units act in order of mobility, set by basic mobility, legion level, and the commander's leadership, to a maximum of 15; the weather sets how many combat turns there are. | p. 50, The Combat Displayp. 51, Combat Command Menus | Manual |
| A side wins a war by annihilating or repelling the enemy's first legion, forcing the enemy commander to surrender, or defeating him; the attacker can also win by taking every stronghold and base, and the defender by holding his base for 30 days. | p. 45, Conditions for Victory | Manual |
| Epidemics, sandstorms, blizzards, typhoons, and droughts strike at random and lower popular support and farm output; a blizzard or drought halves the next harvest, and typhoons hit only tropical and subtropical climates. | p. 41, Disasters and Boonsp. 41, Blizzard; Drought; Typhoon | Manual |
| An abundant harvest doubles the regular harvest and is equally likely in every state except one with an epidemic. | p. 42, Abundant Harvest | Manual |
| A state with low popular support may revolt, and rebels who win the battle become an independent nation. | p. 42, Revolt | Manual |